The person charged with stealing a police vehicle and a postal vehicle, leading to a Bridgeview crash that left three people injured March 19, failed to show up to multiple court hearings, according to Cook County court records.
Miguel Alvarado, 36, was charged March 21 with vehicular hijacking in Oak Lawn as well as aggravated possession of a stolen vehicle and aggravated reckless driving/great bodily harm to a child in Bridgeview, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
The state’s attorney’s office also confirmed Thursday that Alvarado failed to show up to two court hearings last week, but was ordered detained Tuesday while the case is pending.
Prosecutors petition for detainment states Bedford Park police officers were called to a Speedway March 19, where Alvarado was allegedly “causing issues” and trying to access a locked area in the back of the gas station. The officers were reportedly familiar with Alvarado, who they released earlier that day for a misdemeanor.
Officers engaged Alvarado again after he walked across the street to the firehouse on Archer Avenue and caused another disturbance, prosecutors said. Alvarado accepted a ride to the train station from the officers, asking if he could first finish his cigarette.
“The defendant then ran to the Bedford Park officer’s fully marked squad vehicle and drove away,” the petition states. The officer tried to stop him but ultimately ended the pursuit due to safety risks, the petition states.
From there, Alvarado drove to Chicago Ridge and the police vehicle was disabled on train tracks, prosecutors said.
He approached a postal worker sitting in a United States Postal Service van in Oak Lawn and pulled her out before taking the van, prosecutors said. The two were involved in an altercation that allegedly included Alvarado punching the postal worker with a closed fist, they said.
Alvarado drove the van west on 97th Street and was traveling at about 80 mph when he collided with a black sedan driving in his path that included an adult and her two children, ages 3 and 6, the petition states.
The children remained in critical condition March 21, with injuries including multiple broken bones for one and a brain bleed for the other, the petition states. The mother was taken to Northwestern University Medical Center Wednesday, and the children to Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago and Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Bridgeview police said.
Alvarado reportedly hit two vehicles in addition to the black sedan with the three victims and unsuccessfully tried to take one person out of the car to take that car as well, the petition states.
“That victim was able to wrestle the defendant to the ground for when officers arrived on the scene,” the petition said. Alvarado was allegedly identified as the person who stole the postal van by the postal worker and as the person who stole the police vehicle by Beford Park officers, it said.
Alvarado is due back at the Bridgeview courthouse April 22.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com